Captain's log: Notes from the Bridge – All things related to Adobe Bridge.

Lexar Flash cards are including a script that works with Adobe Bridge. I would be interested to hear from customers what they think about this integration.
From the Lexar Press Release:
Lexar Smart Download To Offer ActiveMemory Functionality For Adobe
Creative Suite; New Module Will Improve Digital Imaging Workflow for
Photographers Using Adobe Bridge
PMA 2006
ORLANDO, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 27, 2006–Lexar Media, Inc.
(Nasdaq: LEXR), a world leader in advanced digital media technologies
today announced Lexar(R) Smart Download, an intelligent acquisition
plug-in module that will allow photographers to rapidly download and
manage images directly from their memory cards via Adobe(R) Bridge, a
component of Adobe Creative Suite (CS2). On display at the Photo
Marketing Association International Show (PMA), the new plug-in will
make it possible for photographers to leverage advanced features offered
by Lexar Professional ActiveMemory(TM) CompactFlash(R) (CF) and Secure
Digital(TM) (SD) flash memory cards and will provide a productivity
boost with the ability to manage multiple concurrent downloads using
Lexar’s Professional Firewire and USB 2.0 CompactFlash Readers.

Many customer have asked about the portability of Bridge keywords. They want to be able to export keyword lists in order to edit and organize them more easily.
With Bridge 1.03 (mac | win), customers can access the list of keywords that Bridge uses in an XML based format. Previously this information was stored in a more binary, harder to edit format – the .abdata file.
The Adobe Bridge Keywords.xml file is available in these locations:
Mac:
(username)/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Bridge/
Windows:
C:\Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Adobe\Bridge
Simply edit the file in a text or XML browser and save. Re-launching Bridge will read in the new keywords list.
I would be interested to hear how customers would like to manage their keywords.
Gunar
Adobe Bridge Product Manager

Last Tuesday Adobe launched the Adobe Production Studio which includes new versions of your favorite dynamic media applications: Adobe After Effects 7.0, Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, Adobe Audition 2.0, Adobe Encore DVD 2.0 and Adobe Bridge. Wait a minute. Bridge? Yes, Bridge is now also the digital asset hub for dynamic media pros.
So, is there a new version of Bridge? And what does it mean if you have both the Creative Suite and Production Studio on your machine?
Well, no, it’s not a new version. The latest version of Bridge is still 1.0.3 (if you don’t have it already, you can download the free update for Mac OS or Windows).
However, there are some new features in Bridge when running with the Production Studio. How do we do it? With something we call “feature clipping”: based on the serial numbers and products you have activated on your machine, various features get enabled or not. For example, if you’ve purchased the Creative Suite, you’ll see the Color Settings synchronization dialog and Bridge Center. Only if you have Illustrator installed will you see commands related to Illustrator. That way, you get an app that’s relevant to you.
When designing Bridge we’ve given a lot of thought to keep things simple and avoiding putting in your face features that are not relevant to you. For example, only when you click on a PDF file will you see a controller that allows you to go through all its pages. If you never use PDF files (say it ain’t so!), that feature never gets in your way.
In addition, Bridge is extensible via a rich Javascript scripting API. This allows us to add new commands and features without making changes to the core application.
Having a single core application allows us to keep it simple for you and for us: you have a single app to kepp track off, not multiple “variants”, you can use the same app with any combination of products you want, and we can put all our resources on testing and improving an app that benefits all our customers.
So, what are the new features in Bridge with the Production Studio? If you invoke Bridge from Premiere, for example, double-click of files of any type and they will be imported in Premiere, instead of their usual application. This is a feature we call “Smart Import”. The code-name for that feature was “who’s your daddy?”, but for some reason someone thought “Smart Import” was better…
You’ll also notice that the animation presets and templates have an animated preview: we’re using XMP to embed an animated-GIF preview, and play it back in Bridge.
When the Production Studio is installed, Bridge will also extract metadata from dynamic media files, such as Quicktime .mov.
So, give Bridge a go with the new Production Studio and let us know what you think and what you’d like to see in future versions.

When using Bridge, you can select a file or folder and use the File > Reveal in Finder/Explorer command to view the item using the Finder or Explorer. But sometimes, you’d like to be able to get access to Bridge from within the Finder or Explorer.
There’s a couple of ways to do this.
If Bridge is already running, you can drop an item (file or folder) onto the Preview pane in Bridge. Bridge will switch to that item’s location. On Mac OS X, you can also drop an item on the Bridge icon (whether Bridge is running or not) and this will also reveal that item in Bridge.
If you are using Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), you can install an Automator Plugin at the following path: ~/Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder/. This will add a “Reveal in Bridge” command to the Finder contextual menu.
If you are using Windows, download this .reg file and double-click it. It will modify the Windows registy to add a new “Reveal in Bridge” command to Windows Explorer’s contextual menu.
Arno Gourdol.
Adobe Bridge Engineering Manager.

I have been hearing concerns from some customers that Lightroom will replace Bridge – this is definitely not the plan.
Lightroom is highly tailored for a pro photographer workflow – Bridge is designed to be the file management hub for the creative professional. Yes, yes there will be some overlap in areas such as DNG, Camera Raw, and metadata, but that is a good thing.
One way to think about it is, where the photographer workflow ends, the creative professional workflow begins. Bridge is focussed on being at the center of the creative workflow – for print, web and video.
Adobe’s approach to file and asset management is to be as open as possible since this drives interoperability. Almost all our applications support reading and writing of XMP – our open source metadata standard – as do many of our partner solutions. The more intelligence (metadata) we put in the file, the more intelligent and efficient workflows we can empower. And the more choices you will have as a consumer.
Gunar
Bridge Product Manager

The Bridge team has setup this blog to communicate and share information regarding Adobe Bridge.
Bridge is the file management hub of the Creative Suite, a place where one can manage, organize and view their creative assets.
It is also a very extensible platform, that include services such as Adobe Stock Photos and management of Version Cue projects. For Photoshop and Suite customers, Bridge also includes Camera Raw.
If you are a javascript developer, you should check the Bridge Javascript reference guide (pdf).
Make sure you have updated to 1.03 via downloads (mac)(pc) or from the Updates link under the Help menu.
Gunar
Adobe Bridge Product Manager